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Student Forum

On April 4, 2017, College at Brockport President Heidi Macpherson hosted a Student
Forum. The forum was attended by Brockport student leaders, College leadership, Mayor
Margaret Blackman, and Brockport Village Police Chief Daniel Varrenti.

Community Conversations

A town hall meeting approach to engage faculty, staff, and students in dialogues on
racial tensions and diversity issues occurring nationally, in Brockport’s surrounding
communities, and on our campus. In collaboration with several divisions across campus
as well as student organizations, the campus community explored several topics related
to the negative impacts of the intersectionality of race, poverty and violence. Past
topics have included micro-aggressions, hate speech, racial justice, the #BlackLivesMatter
Movement, and community building. Upcoming conversations will focus on Muslim communities
in the era of Trump, cultural humility, implicit bias, intersections of institutional
racism and gender normativity, and ensuring the academic success of men of color in
higher education.

Faculty and Staff Recruitment

The Office of Affirmative Action and Human Resources has significantly revised The
College’s search and recruitment process.

We have invested heavily in a new, comprehensive Applicant Tracking System, which
will provide robust reporting capabilities in support of our diversification efforts.

We have developed a multi-point search training program, mandatory for all hiring
managers and search committee members. Among other topics, the training provides an
overview of Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity, as well as The College’s
specific requirements regarding compliance during the search process.

To meet The College’s responsibility to make a good faith effort in diversifying the
pool of applicants available to search committees, we work jointly with each hiring
manager to advertise in nationally recognized venues, such as The Chronicle of Higher
Ed, Recruit Disibility.org, Higher Ed Jobs.com, and through the U.S. Department of
Labor at Job Central.com (formerly USA Jobs), all designed to reach the largest and
most diverse aggregation of ready job seekers. Further, through the American Association
for Access, Equity, and Diversity (AAAED), we are exploring additional, more focused
advertising venues, including, but not limited to, Ability Jobs.com, Getting Hired.com.,
LGBT Connect.com, and Vet Central.com.

We have revamped The College’s Waiver of Search protocol to emphasize the importance
of conducting proper Affirmative Action searches and increase access.

MWBE initiatives

The Governor has set very ambitious for expectations/goals for the procurement of
goods from Minority and Women owned businesses (MWBEs). Brockport’s 2015/16 MWBE percentage
was 54.06% [15.9% Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and 38.09 Women Business Enterprises
(WBE)].

Extending the requirement for a D course for all students

Since 2011, most transfer students had been exempt from the requirement to take a
Diversity (D) or Other World Civilizations (O) course. In spring 2016, the College
Senate approved a proposal for transfer students to meet the D/O requirement.

Development of Bias Incident Reporting

In the spring 2016 semester, cabinet approved a plan to develop and implement a bias-related
incident reporting system. Faculty, staff and students will be able to report concerns
anonymously, related to bias, discrimination and hate. Reports will be reviewed and
acted upon by a team who will provide timely support and response to involved individuals.
The system is being further developed and is expected to go live in spring 2017.

Gender Inclusive Housing Policy and Process

We have had a Gender Inclusive Housing policy since 2014. We improved our promotion
of this policy in 2015 and included questions on the housing application to make it
a clear and accessible process. All of our residence halls are gender inclusive, which
is unique because many schools have designated wings or areas.

RD Training

Resident Directors participate in Safe Zone training annually (since 2012), and spend
a full day in August at a retreat focused on EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion),
creating an inclusive residence hall community, etc. There are numerous other training
activities related to EDI throughout the year. For our professional staff meeting,
we have had a standing agenda item related to EDI for the past 2 years, where we discuss
issues that our students are facing, discuss articles, watch videos, etc. Lastly,
we read Contested Issues in Student Affairs by Magolda & Magolda in spring 2016, which
included several chapters on diversity related issues in our field.

Student Union & Activities

Tunnel of Oppression

This is a multi-day event, currently facilitated through Student Union & Activities,
where students highlight issues of oppression in our society by walking attendees
through various rooms that they’ve created. Some examples of topics are bullying,
ableism, racism, body image, sexism, religious discrimination, etc. This program started
in 2012.

Community Development

Leadership Development Program

Each level of the Leadership Development Program seeks to enhance students’ understanding
of their own cultural identity while building cultural humility and a social justice
lens.

Community Service Initiatives

Migrant Farm Worker Clothing Drive: Sought to raise awareness and goods for the local
migrant farm worker population

MLK Day of Service: Each year we bring students to an event in Rochester where we
celebrate the life and work of Dr. King while also giving back with community members

Interfaith Day of Service: Each year during Interfaith Day of Service we allow students
to work with a variety of faith groups and discuss service through interfaith dialogue

Deliberative Dialogue

Throughout the year, we host numerous deliberative dialogues aimed at discussing important
campus topics. In our first year (last year) Dialogues were hosted on the following
related topics:

Ending Discrimination on a College Campus

Understanding Activism

Understanding Citizenship (exploring immigration)

University Police

Fair and Impartial Policing

March 2016, 15 of the 16 officers were trained at SUNY Geneseo

The focus is on implicit biases that officers bring to the job.

We trained Monroe Community College officers on our campus. Additional Information
is available on the SUNY Big Ideas Blog.

EMSA Collaborative Training

On August 23, 2016, 250 student leaders participated in a collaborative training.
This training is for EMSA student leaders in Residential Life/Learning Communities,
Student Union & Activities, Community Development, Campus Rec, Student Retention,
Prevention and Outreach, and Career Services. For the past 4 years, the training has
sought to facilitate discussions with student leaders about topics of diversity, equity
and inclusion.

Rochester Education Opportunity Center (REOC) Events

Multicultural Day held on November 10, 2016. This has been a staple part of the REOC
for several years.

Barbershop Talk: A discussion for men regarding social issues and opportunities Self-Empowerment and Acceptance: This presentation helps participants to recognize
their strengths and develop a new and positive mindset.

Let’s Change the Conversation—Why Survivors are the Experts: This interactive presentation
laid the foundation on how and why dating and domestic violence occurs, while focusing
on an individual, local community, national and global response to a crime that is
100% preventable.

Rochester Police Department Body Worn Camera Initiative: This presentation explained
how the Rochester Police Department’s Body Worn Camera Program works and its connection
to violence prevention in the community.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse: This workshop discussed the truth vs. myths regarding
mental health, substance abuse and their relationship to violence in the community
and the stigma associated with mental health and substance abuse.